“What are you making?” Monica asked snaking her arms around Gerard as he stood at the stove. “It smells wonderful.”
He smiled. “While you were sleeping I ran to the store and bought some eggs. I can do scrambled eggs. I’ve also fried up the steak that we had left over from last night. So breakfast is steak and eggs. I even stopped at Starbucks and picked us up coffee.” He tuned and took her into his arms. “Grab two plates.”
Monica got the plates and watched as he scooped scrambled eggs on to each. He then added steak to each plate. “Ta Dah”
As they sat at the breakfast bar he smiled watching Monica eat. She looked so damned sexy, still sleepy, hair messy and totally beautiful.
“What are you smiling about?” she asked looking up at him.
“I’m smiling cause I’m so happy. So did I do a good non-burnt breakfast?
Monica took a sip of her coffee before answering, “This is the best breakfast I’ve even eaten. When we get married I’ll just let you do all the cooking when you’re home.”
Gerard laughed, “You are a brave woman.”
“No.” she told him, “I’m just a woman in love.”
Gerard’s phone rang interrupting the moment. “Hey, Bob how’s it going?’
He listened for a few minutes and Monica watched his smile turn into a frown. “But she’s okay?”
Whatever the answer had been it caused Gerard to laugh. “Yeah man, I’ll talk to ya later.” He disconnected.
“What happened?” Monica asked, “Did they get a chance to work out their problems?”
“He said they really haven’t talked yet.” He grinned, “But that she tried to burn down his house.”
Monica who had been taking a sip of coffee began chocking. “What?”
“It seems she was trying to cook something for his homecoming. He didn’t really go into details but the fire department was there when he got home.”
“And she’s okay?”
“Yep, he said she’s okay and he loves her.”
Monica shook her head, “Well Gee, I guess Kara takes after you. What is it with you guys and cooking?” she asked with a grin.

“Brian are you sure there is no way we can get out of tomorrows interview?’ Ray asked. He had been explaining the situation with Eliza to their manager. “I mean you know no matter what we say he’s gonna bring this shit up in the interview. Gee and Monica don’t need this right now.”
“Look I understand your concern but it would be fucking impossible to skip this one. Besides this is gonna come up sooner or later.” Brian thought a minute, “You are right, you gotta tell Gerard. If the guys asks him about Eliza and he’s not expecting it no telling what he’ll say.”
“I’ll talk to him later today.” Ray said unhappily.
“Yeah well there is something else. You guys are still scheduled to leave on Tuesday and that’s still on but several more dates have been added.”
“How many days are we gonna be out?’ Ray asked. He nodded to Christa who walked in and sat down by him.
“After the Canadian dates we’ve added six more US dates.”
“Without telling us?” Ray was surprised, “Why?”
“Record company is really pushing for them. It’s to make up lost revenue when the guys missed the concerts while you were in the hospital.” Brian admitted.
Ray sighed, “Yeah guess I’m not surprised. I’ll tell the guys today.” It would sound better coming from him than Brian. “Well, I’ll talk to ya later man.”
“Why are you frowning?” Christa asked when he sat down his phone.
“They just added six more dates after Canada. That was supposed to be downtime. I don’t mind but I think the rest of the guys will.”
Christa tried not to let it show how his words hurt her. The rest of the guys would hate to leave their lovers but not Ray. She stood up, “I think I’ll pop down to the office and see how everyone is doing.” She said.
“Yeah, okay. I’m just gonna hang and try to talk to Gee later. I’ve got to warn him about Eliza.”
Christa walked out he door trying to keep a smile on her face. It wasn’t easy. Ray watched her wondering what had just happened. Christa never left without kissing him goodbye.

Bob sat in the semi-darkness smoking a cigarette . He must be getting old, this jet lag was kicking his ass. He'd been awake for over an hour just watching over Kara as she slept and reviewing the events of the past 24 hours. He'd talked to Gerard to let them know Kara was okay. His parents were both already at his house supervising the clean-up.
He looked over to where Kara was curled up on the bed, a black smudge streaked across her cute button nose. He hoped her presence here meant what he hoped it did, that they could get past all of the crap of the last two weeks and get on with their lives. Or maybe she had meant to burn his house down. He supposed it was a good sign that she had been concerned about Pookie and not any of her clothes. Poor Pookie sure looked a little the worse for wear. Bob picked him up from the table and stared at him. One ear was now bent over, he smelled of smoke and he couldn't hold up his head up. Bob pushed this head back upright and caught sight of the bad sewing job that seemed to be holding Pookie's head on his shoulders. He'd beeen turned into FrankenPookie. What had happened to him? Bob rubbed his own neck uncomfortably.
There was a soft knock at the door, "Room service."
Bob crossed into the other room to answer the door. He signaled the waiter to be quiet as he set out the continental breakfast. This was quickly accomplished and Bob signed the check and escorted him out.
He grabbed a cup of coffee and went back into the bedroom. He really should wake Kara up, but she just looked too darn cute, softly snoring with his t-shirt riding up her hips.
He took a sip of coffee before setting the cup on the night stand and lying down next to Kara. He skooted over so that they were now sharing a pillow. He ran a hand up her silky thigh until he touched the lace of her panties. He leaned in and kissed her nose causing her to crinkle it. He kissed it again. This time she took a half-hearted swipe at the irritant, smacking Bob in the face. He caught her hand and held it. Chuckling, he lightly blew into her face. Again she wrinkled her nose.
"Coffee" she croaked, partially opening one eye. She caught sight of her antagonist. She smiled, "Hi, Honey."
"Good morning, Sleepy Head."
Kara closed her eye and stretched. "What time is it?"
"About 8:30" Bob let go of her hand and moved a stray hair out of Kara's face.
Kara groaned and rolled onto her back. Opening her eyes, she stared at the ceiling. A strange look came over her face. She closed her eyes and groaned. "Oh crap."
"What's wrong?"
"Did I burn your house down yesterday?" Her voice was soft and shaky.
Bob chuckled, "Only the kitchen."
Kara let out a long painful moaning "Ohhhhh" and turned back over, burying her head in the pillow.
Bob turned her now tear-streaked face toward him. "Hey, shhhhh...." He tried to quiet her. "It was an accident."
Kara cried louder.
"It was an accident, wasn't it?"
Kara gave a sqeak and punched him in the shoulder, "Bob, that's not funny."
He laughed, grabbing her hand again. This time he kissed it before holding it to his chest. "That's better. Now, what happened? I couldn't understand you last night."
Kara shook her head, still sniffling.
"Ah, come on."
Kara took a deep breath but still didn't say anything.
"Kara, why were you at he house? I thought you were in Jersey. Thought you didn't want to see me."
"I didn't." Kara said quietly. "But I started thinking about everything you said and what everyone else said. and ...I don't know. Suddenly I knew it was all a big mistake. I knew you hadn't done anything and that I was just mad because I was so jealous because I thought you were having fun in Europe without me. And with some stupid girl. I guess I really just didn't want you to have any fun while you were gone. I wanted you to be miserable and miss me horribly. It was stupid."
"I was miserable, you little idiot."
"You were? So was I." Kara sounded rather happy at the prospect.
"Of course, I was. I didn't feel good and Gerard kept dragging me everywhere. I just kept thinking how much I missed you and that it should be you with me and then it wouldn't have mattered that I felt so sick. It would have been all right.'
"Really?" Kara was smiling.
"Yeah, now tell me about the house."
"I wanted to surprise you with a home cooked meal. I got the recipe from your mother and she took me grocery shopping and everything. But I did everything myself. It was going pretty good and then WHOOSH - there was a fire and ...and ...I didn't know what to do." she dissolved into tears.
Bob just held her against him and stroked her hair.
After a few minutes, he pulled her back so he could look into her eyes.
"Kara, are we okay?"
She silently nodded.
"Then the kitchen doesn't matter. Only we matter. Now, go take a shower. You stink."